The vast majority of people discover a new social network on Ning via invitations from their friends. This is the “viral distribution” mumbo jumbo you’ve been hearing about. Only it’s not actually mumbo jumbo. Rather, it is an incredibly powerful way for people to spread the word about a new social network they’ve created. If your social network is valuable to your members, they will spread the word too. But I digress…

Update (7/12/09): We’ve now built a way to verify your Ning Network with Google Webmaster Tools right into your Ning Network. Check out this Help Center FAQ for instructions.

Want to take control of traffic coming from Google searches to your network on Ning? Read on to learn how to harness the power of Google Webmaster Tools to help boost your network’s rank in Google searches.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked the same question by a number of large brands:

“What’s the best way for us to incorporate social networking into our brand strategy?”

I think that there are a few ways to answer this question. First, social networking isn’t for everyone. Knowing what will and won’t work for your brand, your company, and your customers upfront is critical.

Network Creators love to ask us whether the Ning Platform can scale a social network on Ning to millions of people and page views. It’s a great question.

The short answer is absolutely. That’s why we’re here. Our general approach is to quietly earn your trust on this front by simply being up and, well, awesome. As your network continues to grow and grow and grow, it should just work. You shouldn’t even have to think about it.

The longer answer is that creating a platform that works smoothly and speedily at high volume is a challenge. We love challenges. It’s an area that we have taken seriously from the start and a place where we’ve put our money where our mouth is.

No other element or feature of a social network elicits as much venom or praise as the member profile page. Why? It’s simple:

Profile pages on social networks represent the very heart of freedom, self-expression, and the ability to make something uniquely your own.

A profile page is all mine to do (almost) anything I want with it.

Profile Page Features

So, this is my profile page on Ning’s Network Creators:

In many cases, The Right People First is an easier and more common path to creating a wildfire network than One Great Piece of Content.

It’s totally your call as to who are The Right People for your network. That’s the beauty of your own social network. You have the freedom to do anything you want with it.